Power of the Press

Saw this on the NBC News this morning and it made me laugh for hours despite the tragic note.

A 52 year-old grandmother was found stabbed to death in her home in The Bronx. Tragic, yes. Upon interviewing the neighbors, the response was one you always see in these cases:

"She was a very sweet old lady who did whatever she could to help out her neighbors"...yadda yadda yadda. You can always expect to get that kind of comment whenever someone is murdered. The person is always the salt of the earth and all. Something similar happens when they arrest someone for being a mass murderer: "He was such a nice boy, a quiet neighbor, very friendly, etc, etc et al".

But back to the case in point.

Literally in the same breath it took to say that this grandmother was a sweet neighbor, the newswoman reported that drug paraphenalia was found in her home and it was unclear wheteher it belonged to the victim or the assailant. WTF!!!???

When did she go from being Granny Goodness to being a drug dealer??!!! What, was she making crystal meth in her kitchen? Was she cooking up Extasy? It raises some questions, no doubt. Just how was she able to help out her neighbors, hmmm? Was she well connected?

I'm sure some people watching the news this morning didn't catch the drug reference. Unfortunately, I did. So did my wife. We both pulled a Scooby Doo (HRUUUHHH?!!) and just stared at the TV set for a second. I'm sure there could be thousands of reasons why the old lady had drug paraphenalia in her house, I don't think it belonged to the assailant though. I mean, why would he have his stuff in her house anyway? It's a weird case and I hope they solve it soon if only to clear the poor woman's reputation.

It's kind of like a case here in PR. A man named "Coquito" was found murdered. EVERYBODY knew him. He was a "shining pillar of the community". He helped politicians in their campaigns, he got Don Omar the help and finances he needed to become the star he is today. Tego Calderon also claims help from Coquito. Funny how not even his closest friends knew that he was a major drug czar on the island. Of course now the politicos deny having known him (despite one of them living next door to him), and those who do admit knowing him, deny knowledge of any shady dealings he may have been a part of. He was just this really nice guy, you know?

Anyway, I'm not making light of the tragedy that occured today. Nobody deserves to die that way. My deepest condolences to the family. But after watching the news, you just gotta wonder: how well do we know our neighbors?

9/11 Remembered

Five years. To thinks it's been only five years. Seems like a lifetime ago when I heard the news about the towers. I think we all remember where we were and what we were doing when the first plane struck.

I was sitting in my office at the Caribe Girl Scout Council when I heard the DJ on AlfaRock say that a plane had crashed into the first tower. I was in disbelief. How could such an accident happen? My co-workers were reacting the same way.

Then the second plane struck.

Not an accident. No way. This was deliberate. The Pentagon too? A fourth in Pennsylvania? Holy crap!!! Now I was freaking out. SO were my co-workers. My wife called to tell me the news. Everyone was SO freaked!

Then the towers FELL.....

I went cold. It's unreal. I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept, and I have a VIVID imagination. I had to wait until I got home to see the video feeds. I can't remember whether I cried or not. I assume I did, but I was in such a state of shock you could have burned me alive and I wouldn't have noticed. This feeling went on for days and then weeks.

I found out that my cousin Sal worked on the 93rd floor, but thank God he wasn't there that morning. My other cousin Mark also worked there but was in Jersey visiting a client. Yet another cousin, Julie, was working somewhere on 5th Ave and 38th street, far from the collapse, but with all that smoke and dust she might have well been at Ground Zero. All of them were safe, but just thinking about losing them made me feel ill.

Later I found out that one of my clients had lost her niece there. She was trapped above the plane crash. She was a promising athlete. Volleyball I think. I learned that a very dear freind of mine, Wanda, also worked in the building. High up as it turned out. She wasn't there because she had to take her mom for a root canal. Twist of fate.

I myself felt weird since I had been to New York a few weeks before for the first time in 20 years. I imagined how it would have been if I had been there during the attacks. It still makes me ill.

I'm sure we've all heard of the miraculous accounts of those who barely escaped the collapse. I'm also sure that many more of us have lost someone we knew and/or loved that day. To you I offer my DEEPEST condolences.

I was watching the CBS special last night about the Engine house that just happened to be recording a documentary that day (twist of fate again). And right now I'm watching the reading of the names on NBC. Can't help but cry during all this. I even had to call my friend Wanda in New York just to bring a smile to both our faces in this saddest of days.

To all the heroes of that day, NYPD, NYFD, the volunteers and the New Yorkers that set the standard for human kindness and compassion....THANK YOU!!!!

To those who have perished that day, May God bless you and keep you. You are missed.

To everyone else, PLEASE let us never forget. Not just the victims of the towers, but the victims of the other two flights as well(we hardly mention them do we?).

I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER!!!!

Celmate Cellphone

Heard on the radio the other day about one of the most outrageous things to ever happen in jail.

The Director of Correctional Facilities in Puerto Rico was talking about an inmate who got beaten to a pulp because his cellphone started ringing. Why?

It wasn't an offensive ringtone.
It wasn't interrupting someone's sleep.
It wasn't interrupting a sermon or movie.
So why?

Well for starters, cellphones are verbotten in jail. So obviously, when the phone started ringing, everyone wanted to get their hands on it to make a call outside. But where was the ringing coming from?

Turns out the culprit was sitting on his cellphone. More exactly, the cellphone was "roaming" up his butt!!! HUH???!!!!

This guy somehow smuggled a cellphone into jail, then shoved it up his butt to keep anyone from finding out he had one. Hmmm...must have been one of the smaller Razors or Nokia's. Could you imagine if this had happend 10 years ago when the cellphones were a LOT bulkier?!!! OUCH!!!

And how the hell was he supposed to talk on a phone that had been where no man had gone before (scratch that, he WAS in jail after all. What were the possibilities?)? Just thinking about the smell alone!!!

I wonder if he got good reception in that area?

(**A note to Japan and the cellphone manufacturers: Stop making these phones so small. There's no telling where they might end up.**)

Maybe next time he'll remember to have the courtesy to put it on vibrate.